


Supportive Parenting Style and a Stable Home Life

by 5ofSpades



Series: TFA short fills [5]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Community: tfa_kink, Domestic Fluff, Domestic Violence, Forced Bonding, Forced Pregnancy, Hux Lost, Hux Won, Hux is an ass, Implied Child Deaths, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Injured Hux, Kid Fic, Kylo Ren is an ass, M/M, Many Mini Huxes, Minor Violence, Mitaka is a dark side cinnamon roll, Mpreg, Poor Millicent, Single Father Kylo Ren, Skulls in a Gift Basket for Hux, Tiger Mom Hux, Unfortunately Large Ears, end of life, freaky kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-05-31 19:31:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6484696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5ofSpades/pseuds/5ofSpades
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: DarkOmega!Hux/Alpha!Kylo Bond or die<br/>Hux is certain that as soon as he returns Kylo to Snoke, he will be executed on the spot for the loss of Starkiller. Being that he is not below anything to ensure his survival and his command, he finally finds an advantage to his nature and forcibly bonds with the alpha. Now Snoke will be forced to spare the general or risk crippling his already mentally unstable apprentice.</p><p>How this develops is totally up to the author but plus for:<br/>+++Snoke sparing Hux but making his life miserable.<br/>+++++Kylo feeling used and conflicted about the whole arrangement.</p><p>Somewhat Cracky Fill: Not so much the process but the aftermath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Stable Home Life

**

“Since you have so readily used your Omega nature to your gain, so shall your Omega nature be readily used for your punishment.”

Death was not the worst thing that could happen to a person, Hux soon learned. And the designation, the cursed designation that he had worked so hard all his life to shake, mockingly remained one of his heaviest shackles.

**

The Supreme Leader was wise, his experience spanned centuries.

The Supreme Leader was powerful, his mastery of the Force like none other.

With his wisdom and power, men bowed to him, countries bowed to him, entire systems bowed to him, and the First Order also bowed to him.

But Time, that constant, never-stopping, encompassing Force, that ever trickling hourglass, that ceaseless marching band of sickles and guillotines, bowed to no one.

When the first and only great-grandson of Darth Vader turned five, the Supreme Leader fell dead of old age.

**

Markas Anakin Ren had no Dam. All he had was a Sire who was fearsome and powerful before other men, yet fumbling and unsure before his own son. And his Sire had no Omega of his own, when all the other Alpha officers had this and that pretty things on their arms at all the state functions. Markas was lucky he’d managed to grow as old as he did, raised by droids and the tried and true methods of trial and error and flying by the seat of one’s pants.

Markas Anakin Ren also had no friends of his own age. All the other parents shrank back in fear of his Sire, and all the other children, Markas was told, were beneath him, after he ran back to his Sire and cried about the rejection and mockery he’d faced at the shared nursery. The children now shrank back in fear of him too, after he Force choked two of them and dragged their struggling bodies across the playroom floor. He had an old orange cat once, an affectionate and well-beloved creature. But she simply got too old one day, and not even the Force could bring her back.

So when Markas Anakin Ren turned seven, he was surprised, upon returning home after a full day at the junior academy, to find many boxes strewn about the house, a new bunk bed in the empty room next to his own, and all the dust sheets in his old nursery removed, with not one but two new cribs sitting partly wrapped against two opposing walls.

“Lord Kylo Ren would return tomorrow evening, young Lord Markas Anakin Ren. And his Lordship had instructed us to prepare for permanent guests,” one of the droids turned around and explained.

What sort of guest would need a chain bolted to the nursery floor, Markas wondered, as he poked at the thin cot in the nursery. A poorly made piece of furnishing, nowhere near the craftsmanship and quality of the bunk bed and cribs.

**

The Omega was from one of the more remote Neo-Empire breeding farms. It had served the Empire faithfully by giving relief to its more useful members and carrying forth more children to increase the Empire’s still thin population. It was silent and outwardly docile. Its face was gaunt and pallid as a corpse’s. Its gait was slow and limping. Its features were symmetrical but nowhere near as striking as Markas’ Sire’s handsome looks. The only thing lively about it was the smattering of freckles on its skin. Oh, and its hair may actually be an exotic red, but since it was shaved bald, Markas could not be sure.

But underneath the surface, oh underneath the surface Markas felt something else. And for one instance he swore those green-gray eyes flashed bright and cold like a terrible stormy sea, instead of the dull dead pools of water they initially appeared as. Markas noted down the Omega as potentially dangerous, to be weary of and to keep an eye on.

But the Omega was his Sire’s problem. What interested Markas more were the children. There would now be other children in this big empty house! Sire had explained that the two sullen girls and the crying twin babies were the Omega’s, pulled from the Stormtrooper program to be trained under a different regimen. Markas looked at the thin shoulders and suspicious eyes, the tuffs of auburn baby hair and pale fingernails, and thought those features familiar. Those were his own features.

No wonder Sire had no Omega and Markas no Dam. It was lost and misplaced. Sire must have gone through some trouble to find it again.

Markas wasn’t sure if he liked his Dam. Half-siblings on the other hand might be interesting. He didn’t want to share his toys, but maybe together they can gang up on the other kids without him having to resort to using the Force all the time.

**

“You do realize that, Ren, as first an army Officer, then a communal breeding bitch, I have very little experience in playing nursemaid. My Omega status, despite me being constantly reminded of it in the last eight years, still lends me very little in the areas of nurturing and caring.”

“I’d say you played the nurturing Omega nursemaid quite well, after you’d pulled me from Starkiller Base. A bit too well in fact,” Ren snarled. How dared you, how dared you use our biology against me, while I was grieving and delirious. “These are your pups, not mine, and you have the choice to take care of them, or be sent right back to where I’ve found you, ‘General’ Starfailure.”

Oh, and there it was, that little sneer, that fire. Now Hux looked much more like his old own self. And if Kylo had to suffer a colicky Markas all by himself, it was only fair for Hux to suffer the twins.

**

Markas invested in a pair of noise-cancellation headphones. As a bribe and peace-offering, he dipped into his own allowances and bought each of his sisters a pair of the same.

The babies wouldn’t stop crying some nights. And then sometimes his Sire and the Omega would start yelling and hissing too. Never at the babies, never the babies, but at each other, always each other. Was it an old hurt or an old rivalry, this bond between them, so different yet so much stronger than the tenacious mating pair bond tying them together for life?

Sire lost his already short temper more frequently. He yelled and threw things, threw the Omega once even, right into a holodisk case. The babies were barely manageable, with the Omega hospitalized, Sire pulled away by a mission, and the only adult in this house full of children the underappreciated Major Mitaka, who had volunteered to watch over the younglings while both parents were gone.

This is not healthy, simply not healthy. Oh poor Markas, poor General Hux. Mitaka had muttered while he fussed over the babies.

Markas didn’t understand what the fuss was about. It was clearly a reciprocal relationship with active exchange between both partners. His Sire simply hadn’t bothered with the hospital that one time the Omega had stabbed him with a kitchen knife. The Omega wasn’t even that damaged (it had said so itself, and petted each of the girl’s hair, patted Markas’ hand, right before it was rolled away on the gurney). Sire was overreacting again (Ren remembered a General who could take a much worse beating than this. How stupid of him to forget that General was gone).

Both of them were so much livelier than before now. The Omega looked half dead when it first moved in, and Sire had always felt so untethered and unmotivated and lonely.

The two sisters nodded solemnly at Markas from their game of Decapitations and Rebels. They agreed. This house was so much better than the last place they’d stayed at.

**

The Omega went right back to bickering with Sire after his early release from the hospital. Like a large contrary cat, Sire basked in the attention of another adult who wasn’t afraid of him.

Their fighting, after the whole hospital fiasco, was limited to verbal spars and physical confrontations without the Force or weapons.

Markas learned so many hand-to-hand take down moves by watching the two. He also learned that kicks to the groin and biting were perfectly legitimate combat maneuvers.

When Mitaka expressed his despair, Markas explained to the Major, very carefully and slowly, that the two were play-fighting. See how the Omega never went for the eyes, the old bowcaster scar, or his concealed blade, despite the man’s tendency to cheat, and Sire never used his full strength?

**

The Omega’s hair grew long and exotic red, just as Markas had initially deduced from the color of his brows and eyelashes.

The Omega had gotten better at dealing with the babies, although he still refused to touch any housework that could be done by droids. Sire was the one who cooked far more, despite his shorter stays at the house. The New Republic was increasing its aggressions, the Neo-Empire not quite united due to a lack of strong, centralized leadership. Sire was a busy Knight, going to this and that appearances, quelling this and that riots, interrogating this and that Resistance spies.

The Omega did take to the task of education with enthusiasm and zeal though. He purchased many early childhood development aids, as well as supplementary teaching materials quite a bit more advanced than standard at Markas and the girls’ ages. Markas’ marks at the junior academy saw significant improvement. The girls caught up with their peers quickly, then just as quickly left them in the dust.

Every night the Omega tucked the twins in bed with old fairytales, as they were told to him lifetimes ago. After that he put the sisters to bed with stories of great Imperials of an Empire lost. He then sat Markas down, and told him of great battles and political intrigues of the past, of ancient texts on Princes and War Arts from long dead kingdoms, and discussed the evening news with him. See how we keep on making mistakes we’ve made before? See how one event is like the other? Now catch this man at his lies by his tells and not the Force. How would you handle this, Markas, if you were the commander of this operation? Markas liked the Omega. He treated Markas like an adult, and held back all of his bites and barbs. Those were usually reserved especially for Sire.

**

“Hux?” Markas looked up from his geometry homework, and called out to the Omega.

“What?” Hux barely looked up from his own readings. Sire had started to bring back holopads for the Omega. I have a lot of catching up to do, the Omega had said.

“If the gestation period of a human Omega is about nine months, the Neo-Empire prized efficiency and effective use of resources above all, Galen and Gelen are twins, and your years of service at the breeding facility numbered roughly seven years, how come I only have four half-siblings?”

“There were five more. They died.”

“Ah ok.” Too bad, Markas thought. He liked his sisters, the vicious little harpies. They helped hold that one annoying commodore’s snotty son down, while he Force yanked the older boy’s teeth lose one by one. No one mocked his sisters’ parentage after that.

**

When the twins were old enough to be sent to a shared nursery, ‘to learn some social skills’ so said Hux, Sire Force melted the chains in the nursery room into doorstoppers, and added a twin bed in the empty room next to his own.

Markas learned that his military blanket corners were nothing compared to the Omega’s military blanket corners.

On nights when Sire was home, Markas could hear Hux pad softly into to Sire’s room. And through the Force Markas could feel glimpses of pictures and words and ideas. Should they be printed, they would be heavily redacted and classified. He learned more about current politics and military movements from his parents’ pillow talks than from the news and his instructors.

Markas’ parents never did what other Alphas and Omegas do together (according to the holonet) though.

Hux had an entire section of the fridge devoted to his suppressant injections.

Kylo Ren’s psych analysis had everything checked out. But, had he not mind-tricked the psychiatrists assigned to his assessments, ‘aversion to sexual intimacy’ would have been filled in in the ‘Other’ category, right under the suggestion for anger management seminars. This aversion was developed roughly eight years ago.

**

“Why force yourself to live with that treacherous and self-serving weasel? Especially after the indignities he had put you through? The choice that he had stolen away from you?” one of the Knights had asked Ren once.

Kylo Ren did not dignify the question with an answer. Hux was dying in the breeding center, and the bond he had forced onto Kylo would have dragged whatever was left of Kylo’s mind to hell along with him. Markas needed a sane (as sane as he could be) father. The other children were an afterthought (Although Ben Solo did wonder from time to time, would he have turned out the way he did, if he had the company and care of attentive adults and siblings his own age in his early malleable years?).

**

Without the favoritism of Snoke, Kylo Ren and the Knights chafed under the rigid structures and constant infighting of the First Order, their potentials wasted on the frivolous and mundane. There were no clear directions, no uniformed vision, no defined goal, but various factions scrabbling amongst themselves, each claiming greater legitimacy in filling the power vacuum left by Snoke. But the Knights had nowhere else better to go, except into even further exile.

The Neo-Empire may call itself thus, but it was getting pushed further and further back into the Outer Rim. Most of the Mid Rim territories they had fought so hard to gain were just as quickly lost. Hux sneered at the incompetence of current high command. Old men with delusions of grandeur and cowardice to match, retreating into their shells, forcing the ambitious young to shrink back and wither with them.

**

When Markas was finally old enough to go to The Academy, the former Stormtrooper Captain, Phasma, was made Ltd. General. Galen and Gelen’s birthday card for Major Mitaka read High Colonel Mitaka instead.

The Finalizer was a large ship. And not all of her staff were punished like her General. Here and there, people moved around, often upwards.

Behind it all was the subtle hand of a certain ginger Omega.

(And the not so subtle hands of a certain group of religious fanatics who called themselves Knights.

“What do you mean the position of Commodore on the Relentless is now clear? What do you mean you had one of your Knights Force choke the last Commodore??? Careful Ren, even you could only do this so many times before people become suspicious.”)

**

When Markas came home for his second summer break (second summer of strict training in the Force with his Sire), he was surprised to find Hux five months pregnant.

Markas hoped his baby sister (yes sister, also coined ‘The Accident’ in jest by both of his still mildly uncomfortable parents) won’t inherit his Sire’s unfortunately large ears, the way Markas himself had.

Both Hux and Ren swore furious vengeance on the New Republic for its heightened embargo, and made seething promises of death to the Resistance cell spearheading the supply blockade that had caused the severe shortage of heat suppressants.

**

“S, st, stay away you Monster!” whimpered Admiral Fibbs at Markas’ masked visage. The man had whimpered just the same as a boy, when Markas removed half of his teeth.

Instead of getting cut down by a lightsaber, the Admiral was shot in the head.

Markas’ older younger sister lowered her blaster and gave her brother a thumb up.

The entire secondary fleet was now under their complete control. Let’s see where the derelict high command, soon to be former high command, would get their back-up from now.

**

Brendol Hux II never became the Emperor like he had always wanted. He was not even officially on the joint council. His Omega status, his history in the breeding farms as sentenced by the late Supreme Leader Snoke, his poor health, all of which were factors detrimental to an active and public role in politics.

He did enjoy the new family home on a re-acquired Mid Rim planet though. The weather was much milder, the flora and fauna both tastier and more lush than those on the barely habitable world they used to be based on. Hux found himself in possession of both higher energy and better appetite. He slept better too, despite Kylo’s annoying tendency to snore and hug all the pillows.

Ah, and Markas, dear Markas did not disappoint. The boy grew tall and handsome and charismatic, and cut a very commanding figure in his Emperor’s robes. If you couldn’t achieve your dreams yourself, living it through your offspring was a suitable consolatory prize.

Ren said the boy owed his success to their supportive parenting style, rigorous mental and physical training, a balanced attunement to the Force, and a stable home life (Mitaka face-palmed).

**


	2. Supportive Parenting Style

** The Relentless **

When Ben Solo, no, Kylo Ren now, was first formally introduced to the First Order, he was assigned to The Relentless, an old refurbished Star Destroyer from Imperial days, outdated but well-maintained. The direct liaison assigned to him in turn was a young Colonel. The man was five years his senior, with ramrod straight military posture, boring and predictable interests in both engineering and politics, the almost non-existent but clean scent of a Beta, and unfortunately scrawny limbs. For all intents and purposes this soldier should have been a forgettable existence for Kylo Ren, just another cog in the First Order’s vast machine. But the intensity and conviction behind his cold eyes were fiercer than his striking red hair, and Kylo surprised himself when he realized he had bothered to remember the man’s name. Hux, Colonel Brendol Hux II.

Ben Solo remembered his mother’s peers’ naïve optimism about the threat of a well-armed First Order. People were all born good, and the good do not wish for war and destruction. Surely after a loss so great, even the Imperials, many of whom were simply government men, army men, men absorbed unwittingly by an unfortunate political system, would see the merit of peace and mutual growth.

Ben Solo remembered his mother’s peers’ laughter at the suggestion of a well-armed First Order. The Imperials were defeated, their fleets destroyed, their numbers decimated, nothing but beaten dogs licking at their own wounds. With the proper embargos and blockades, what could such dogs do in the empty Outer Rim worlds?

Kylo Ren looked at the new and improved TIE-fighters, the shipyards building the next generation Star Destroyers, and remembered again why he had disliked Ben Solo’s mother’s senate friends so.

Kylo Ren looked at the ranks of the young officers, looked at the many young men and women growing up in deprivation, anxiety, and hate, and knew it was only a matter of time before the New Republic would feel their bite.

 

** The Finalizer **

Ben Solo never had trouble saying ‘NO’ to what he did not want.

When his mother pushed him aside for work, he had whined and threw tantrums and said ‘No’.

When his father left for good on the Falcon, he had hid in his room and cried ‘No’.

When the other kids teased him for his strangeness and large ears and asked for his lunch credits, he had punched the ringleader in the face and screamed ‘No’. 

When he was sent to train with Uncle Luke, he had dug his heels into the dirt and mumbled ‘No’.

When the other Jedi trainees whispered about his grandfather, he had breathed deep and slow and said to himself, ‘No’.

But his ‘No’s had never meant anything. People did as they liked, and Ben never got his way. Ben never got his way, until he became Kylo Ren. And how exhilarating, when other people at the wrong end of his crackling lightsaber were the ones to scream ‘NO’!

But Kylo Ren was weak, Kylo Ren was inadequate, Kylo Ren had never really left that useless boy Ben Solo behind. When Kylo Ren, still feeble and half delirious from his wounds and the empty space in the Force that was Han Solo, had whimpered a faint ‘no, not like this, Hux’, his pleas were again ignored. The Omega (how had he managed to hide it for all these years? An Omega General, in the First Order!) with his heady clean scent and dark lust-blown eyes leaned over Kylo’s sickbay bed, and Kylo was consumed completely. 

 

** Year Zero **

The little abomination had thick auburn hair, fair skin, a smattering of light moles, and comically large ears that it would probably never grow into.

It had a rotten temperament and very healthy lungs. It screamed and cried and refused to eat or sleep. The medical droids sent to tend to it malfunctioned. The human staff complained of headache and nausea.

It also was strangely fond of Lord Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren sighed and shook the baby bottle filled with formula. The Supreme Leader was wise, his will must be done.

 

** Year One **

When the little abomination had survived its first year of life, Kylo Ren was summoned before the Supreme Leader in person with it in tow.

The abomination gurgled and crawled straight for Snoke’s throne. Its chubby face was filled with determination, as it grabbed hold of the bottom edge of Snoke’s robes.

Kylo’s heart skipped a beat.

The Supreme Leader smiled. He bent down to pick up the child (yes, child, Kylo’s child, Darth Vader’s great-grandson), and bequeathed him the name Markas, after Dark Lord of the Sith, Marka Ragnos, a legend and inspiration of old.

 

** Shared Nursery, Year 1, Day 5 **

Ben Solo realized children, no matter where they were from, what ideologies they were raised under, what species they were, never really changed.

Could they not come up with more creative things to torment another child about? Questionably absent parent of dubious social standing, funny moles, large ears, Force-using freak. Ben Solo had heard it all before.

Markas blinked his teary eyes at his Sire and held out his arms, silently asking for consolatory hugs.

 

** Shared Nursery, Year 1, Day 7 **

Kylo Ren seethed as he stormed out of the nursery director’s office, and left behind terrified staff, parents, and a room full of wrecked furniture.

Yet he could already hear in his mind what those people were still thinking. Brutal savage, uncontrollable monster, look at how quickly he resorted to violence, the only thing he was good at, the only thing he was good for. No wonder his pup was the same. 

What did they know!? Markas was thoughtful and intelligent and mature beyond his years. Markas was named by the Supreme Leader himself, strong in the Force, descended from a great man and destined for great things! Oh if only Hux was here! If Hux was here, the General would school them all with nothing but his acidic words and steely stare.

Ah, but Hux was not here. And Hux was not a General anymore. The treacherous self-serving viper had gotten exactly what he deserved, and the constant throbbing pain through the loathsome Alpha-Omega pair bond was but a minor nuisance.

 

** Shared Nursery, Year 2, Day 2 **

Kylo Ren did not answer to the nursery director’s summons, for he was busy answering to greater summons from the Supreme Leader himself.

Markas smiled as one of the Knights of Ren, acting on Lord Master Ren’s behalf, resolved the issue of Markas Force choking two classmates by Force choking said classmates’ complaining parents.

 

** Shared Nursery, Year 2, Day 56 **

Markas sat in a corner of the playroom by himself, and flipped through a book almost half as heavy as he was. He didn’t need the company of the other children. He was fine by himself.

**

Kylo Ren looked at the pile of corpses beneath his feet, tall and short, young and old, bonded lovers still holding hands, Omegas shielding their children. The throbbing pain in his chest flared with a steady beat. It had gotten worse over the years, but Kylo was the Master of the Knights of Ren. He was strong, he had endured worse.

 

** Shared Nursery, Post-Graduation Break **

Kylo Ren returned to the House after Supreme Leader’s private cremation, feeling a little lost and a little directionless. Who was to lead the First Order now? Who was to guide him deeper into the Dark?

Kylo Ren hung up his robe, took off his helmet, and realized Markas was not there to welcome him.

He looked in the common room. The boy was not there.

He looked in the training room. The boy was not there.

He looked in the kitchens. The boy was not there.

He looked in the walk-in pantry. The boy still was not there.

He looked out at the backyard. And there was Markas, curled into a ball and crying by himself.

“Do you too grief for our Supreme Leader?” Kylo Ren walked out into the backyard, and knelt down to put a comforting hand on his son’s shaking shoulder.

‘No, no? It’s Millicent. Millicent is dead!’ Markas raised his snot smeared face and sniffled, in his arms was a small, lifeless, orange cat.

**

That night Kylo did not sleep well at all. He thought about the First Order, the Knights, and the lack of a clear line of succession (was this not how the Empire fell?). He thought about the blasted ginger cat and her blasted ginger owner (would Hux be laughing at Snoke’s death right now? Cry at Millicent’s?).

Markas did not help matters at all by tossing and turning and kicking his own Sire in the ribs.

 

** Junior Academy, Year 1 **

The officer who came to the Junior Academy to give new cadets their welcome speech stopped Markas on his way to his ride home, and got all emotional about how big the boy had grown, how much he looked like the General, with his reddish hair, pale skin, slim frame, and alert, intelligent mien.

The officer introduced himself as Mitaka, Major Mitaka. Markas probed subtly around his mind, found no ulterior intentions or malice, but the idealized image of a military man in a great coat, looking both stern and stressed at the same time, as well as a fervent sense of loyalty towards said man.

 

** The Breeding Facility **

When the constant throbbing pain intensified in both strength and frequency, Kylo Ren grinded his teeth and endured.

When the mating bond pulled and called, Kylo Ren ignored it with practice born from resisting the call of the Light.

When the constant throbbing pain suddenly dimmed to almost nothing, and the pull became a screaming, yawning void, Kylo Ren panicked.

**

The frail creature tied to the breeding bench was not Hux, could not be Hux, Kylo thought. Hux had red hair like the setting sun, not this ugly, shaved pale scalp. Hux was always meticulously groomed, not this dirty, bruised, and semen covered mess. Hux’s scent was always crisp and clean (even on that day, that day), not this sickly smell of illness and sweat. Hux’s eyes were always alert and judging, not this empty stare filled with nothing but induced heat.

And Hux was always above other men, an emperor in his domain, crushing his opponents and rivals alike under his well-polished boots.

Kylo yanked the rutting Alpha who had dared climb atop Hux right off, and smeared him into the floor.

 

** Junior Academy, Year 5, Summer Break **

Phasma looked out the window, at Kylo Ren and Markas Anakin Ren jumping about elevated tree stumps in light exercise gear, training sabers clashing, flashing, in a dance of whirling light.

She then looked at the holodisk-shelf, the sealed case filled with paper books, all marked with stickers proclaiming them as the properties of Markas Anakin Ren, and whistled at the titles.

“Just what are you two trying to raise, a reigning Dark Lord?” She tilted her head at Hux, who was no longer a General, but still no less ambitious. His long hair and carefully cultivated softer looks may fool others, but not her.

“High Colonel, I believe Lord Ren had summoned you here not to discuss the education of Lord Markas Ren, but that of my two girls. Although Lord Ren remains skeptical of the Stormtrooper training program, I am of the belief that they could both benefit from certain segments of it. Not as troopers, of course, but as, let’s say, independent summer camp attendees, of a sort,” Hux poured himself another cup of tea (Ren had dumped all the liquors in the House in a pile and set it on fire, after the doctors warned Hux about his weakened liver amidst many other chronic health issues. So needlessly overdramatic still, even after all these years).

“And I trust, dear High Colonel, as their idol and most favorite aunt, you would not disappoint the girls, and guarantee them both a very fun and fruitful summer.”

**

“What about those two brats?” Phasma looked over at the twins (who were playing some sort of tactics game with their plush animals?).

“They are far too young still. Their brains and bodies do not have the physical maturity to fully handle what I have in mind for the girls yet. Maybe in two years, when they are seven. Ah here, High Colonel, please see the revised plans for the Stormtrooper program. One copy is tailored for the girls, and only the girls. The other one contains suggestions for general use. I am sure you’ll find both very useful.”

Phasma looked at the former General, sitting in his couch just as comfortably as if he was sitting on a throne. She then recalled conversions with Mitaka, who had insisted Markas Ren took after General Hux the most out of his two parents.

Phasma felt a shiver go up her spine, not in fear, but in excitement.

 

** Academy, Year 1 **

“Oh please, General Starfailure, who do you think you are now?” The athletics and combat simulations department head sneered at Hux.

“Do you think this is still the old days, when your father ran this facility? Or do you hold the delusions that you are still a General, who could throw his weight around? Well I am afraid to inform you then, Mr. Hux, that the weight of a rabid attack dog’s breeding bitch does not amount to much.”

Markas glanced at Hux, whose face was blandly passive, and tried to choke back his own temper. He was not a child anymore, and tantrums only got you so far.

“Well, your son was rejected from sports teams and most combat simulations for the safety of our other cadets, which is very important to us. And guess what Hux, there is nothing you can do about it!” The man’s wide smile looked most unbecoming on his broad face.

“Are you so sure about that, Lieutenant?” Hux’s tone was as calm as his face. Who’d put this man in charge of an entire department? Hux distinctively remembered him from his own Academy days as a fumbling failure.

“What do you mean? Are you trying to threaten me, Hux? What could you possible do to me in your position, Omega? Sic your Alpha on me? Need I remind you that his own position is precarious too, with the Supreme Leader gone.”

“Again I ask, are you so sure about your decision, Lieutenant? I will be resubmitting the proper paperwork again through the proper channels, and I do hope you would reconsider, for is the Order not supposed to provide education for all its children?” Hux stood up from his uncomfortable metal chair, and beckoned Markas to follow.

**

The activities request for Markas was never approved for the semester. His sisters, Lily and Eva, were similarly rejected from their junior academy equivalents for no reason at all. The boy didn’t care about sports games, and spent combat simulation days on extracurricular reading, with the Knights, or with his sisters at the Stormtrooper combat simulation facility instead.

At the start of the next semester, the athletics and combat simulations department head got stuck in the elevator for an entire weekend due to a terrible malfunction, and developed kidney failure as a result.

Lily and Eva clapped their hands as Markas juggled the contents of the sisters’ mechanic toolkits around the living room with the Force.

**

“Do not lash out immediately at insults and slights, but deal retribution at the most opportune moment. Think and observe and lie in wait, and most important of all, do not implicate yourself, even if you can afford to,” Hux had said.

And as much as Markas itched to do what his Sire had always done, to slash and choke and destroy to let out his rage, he listened to his Dam.

 

** The House **

Ben Solo had never really hated the New Republic. Oh he had resented it for stealing his mother away, for its council’s stupidity, and for impeding the will of the Dark side, but he had never hated it the way ex-Imperial children hated it.

But in that moment, Kylo Ren hated the New Republic with a vengeance. They knew how much the First Order, not just the military, but its civilians too, still relied on smuggled supplies from Core and Mid Rim space. Yet they had still tightened the embargo like a nose. The Kylo Ren and Hux of old would not have been personally affected, so high up in the chain of command were they. But Hux was a nobody now, and Kylo and his Knights no longer held the prestigious positions they used to enjoy under Snoke. And their last stock of heat suppressants, courtesy of Mitaka, had just ran out.

At first there was only increased agitation, Hux getting more high-strung than usual. Then the other symptoms started: the sweating, the dilated pupils, and finally the scent, that overpowering scent, just like that one time aboard the Finalizer.

Hux locked himself up in his room.

Kylo sat on the floor next to Hux’s door. Mediation blocked out Hux’s projected pains through the Force and through the bond, but it could not block out the scent of his mate (he was devoted to the Force. He was not supposed to take a mate). It could not block out the sounds either, the panting and whimpering, the frustrated muffled screams.

When the sounds suddenly cut off, Kylo plastered himself against the door, and reached out with his bond, with the Force. Hux was unconscious. Not the blissful unconsciousness of sleep, but the fevered collapse of an Omega long overdue for his heat. Kylo whimpered.

This was Hux. Hux who was cruel, selfish, and vindictive. Hux who saw all other people as crawling insects beneath him, even the powerful Kylo Ren. Hux with his cold heart and delusions of grandeur. Hux who had betrayed his trust (why did he ever trust this slippery weasel, this self-serving fox?), who used Kylo as means to an end, who took and took away his choice. Kylo should leave him to his sufferings. No one’s ever died from a heat before, right?

But this was Hux. Hux whom Kylo had known since he was sixteen years old. Hux who had helped him set up the training droids when he tried to learn how to stop blaster bolts. Hux who came and went in his life, who’d pulled him from the snow. Hux, who might have a chance at pulling the First Order back together, who helped their son so, so much.

Kylo Forced the lock and pushed open the door.

 

** Academy, Year 2 **

Luke Skywalker felt the Force tilter slightly.

**

Kylo Ren cursed his genetics, for passing down his ears to yet another poor unfortunate soul (despite Hux being surrounded by all the comforts of their House instead of held prisoner in a cell or the breeding farm, the pregnancy was both long and difficult. Kylo was so tempted so many times to terminate it early).

Hux cursed Ren and the Force. Babies were bad enough when they couldn’t throw food with their minds (Hux spent the postpartum year mostly in bed rest. It was easier for Kylo to catch flying vegetable puree anyways).

Markas Ren grumbled and bought the twins noise cancellation earphones too. Their baby sister was just as colicky as he supposedly was.

 

** Dahgee **

Markas opened his mouth in awe. Thankfully his face was hidden behind a mask, so none of the accompanying Stormtroopers saw that unprofessional display. 

There were so many crystals here.

**

The Resistance reported the appearance of a new Knight of Ren. When he drew, his lightsaber blade was a zigzagged branch of deep silvery black.

**

Leia stared at the holo recordings of the young Knight of Ren’s unmasked face, disbelieving.

She’d recognize those ears anywhere.

**

Markas was never going to take off his helmet on missions again. Now even the Resistance fighters had started to call him horrible nicknames like “Ears”, “Auris Ren”, “The One with the Ears”, “Flappy”. How come his Sire never had this issue? He’s got the bigger ears!

 

** The House **

“… but who could step up? To lead as the absolute leader of the First Order? Supreme Leader Snoke was both powerful and wise… Yes Hux I know you hate him, but he was still my mentor. The other commanders would not capitulate willingly to anything less. And just like Emperor Palpatine, Supreme Leader Snoke had left no clear successor.” Kylo Ren paced around Hux’s study. The First Order was losing ground. The First Order needed to be truly consolidated under one united banner. And the short-sighted fools who made up its high command were doing the Order more ill than good. The more capable officers under them were tied up by jealousy and bureaucracy of all things. Once upon a time Hux might have been a man who could provide leadership to the Order, his shortcomings made up with Kylo’s own talents in the Force. But that was a lifetime ago. The damage to Hux’s reputation was neigh irreparable, and the damage to his health… Kylo did not wish to dwell too long on that particular topic.

Hux looked up at Kylo from under pale eyelashes and drawled, “Oh but Lord Ren, the Supreme Leader did leave a successor.”

“Who?!”

“Why your son, of course.” Hux gave Kylo a look, a look that clearly said ‘You Moron’ even to those without the Force.

“Wha…?”

“Did the Supreme Leader not hold the boy in his arms, and personally name him after a great Sith Lord of old? Did he not praise the boy for his potential in harnessing the Force? Had the same boy, now a man, not proven himself a capable officer and strategist, instead of just an un-relatable mystic? And is our young Lord Markas Anakin Ren not also the scion of Lord Darth Vader himself? The right hand of Emperor Palpatine?”

**

“Markas wasn’t a popular kid.”

“Neither were we. And I was a General, and you the Master of the Knights. Besides, he had gained increasing popularity and respect now that he is in active service, where action does speak louder than words and petty jealousies. He also grew into his ears quite a bit better than you did, Ren.”

“…”

 

** Mid and Outer Rim Worlds **

Leia poured over holos and reports of the youngest Knight of Ren. In his face she saw the face of her son. Oh how she wished a child of her child to be happy, healthy, and content! But this child had long grown into a bloodless, merciless, heartless monster instead of a man.

The Republic and Resistance alike hunted one Colonel Ren. They loathed him as they loathed the man who had once swallowed suns. Oh how they wished for General Starkiller’s pup’s head on a pike! But this Imperial spawn was a shifty one, and those who sought him either came back empty-handed or not at all.

**

Markas wondered why the New Republic kept on wasting personnel on him. They knew he was a Knight of Ren. They knew he had the Force. Yet they still came, like insects to a roaring flame.

**

Luke Skywalker gave an exasperated sigh. He had missed Markas Ren again. That boy was slippery as an eel when it suited him. Till this day he had not seen his grand-nephew face to face.

**

Markas was not waiting around for a Jedi Master and his apprentice to catch up to him. As Hux had often stressed, do not seek battles you are not sure about winning.

 

** Arkanis **

“Wow this planet is most subpar, despite its place in our family history, and the possible sentimental value,” said Galen.

“Yeah it sucks,” said Gelen, as he lifted his waterlogged boots.

“Full sweep!” Their oldest sister gestured with her rifle, and commanded through the radio. The Stormtrooper units and their field officers fanned out.

“However are we going to find good souvenirs for our dear Dam?” asked Galen.

“Skulls of the Resistance stragglers in a fruit basket maybe?” suggested Gelen.

“…” said Gelen’s entire unit, as they scooted a bit further away from their Captain.

 

** Neo-Empire Core World **

Being the Emperor of the Neo-Empire was a bit like being a shepherd who had to herd angry, hissing, non-cooperative cats. But Markas was afraid if he hadn’t stepped up, Hux might have tried it himself, smeared reputation and chronic health issues be damned. So here Markas was.

The Emperor looked down at his table of advisors and sighed. No they would not build Death Star IV and name it Starkiller Base II. No they would not attack New Republic worlds directly. No they would not crush those who dared oppose the First Order under their boots. They haven’t got the capability at the moment, sad as this particular fact was.

What they were going to do, was to slowly take over all the worlds around the New Republic, then tighten this circle like a nose. There are plenty of Outer Rim and Unknown Regions worlds that cared little about the Empire or the Republic, but would much appreciated safer trade routes, some measure of protection against pirate and slavers, and the prospect of foreign investments. And if these failed, well, there was always the option of orbital bombardments.

(And no he will not duel Jedi Master Rey in an epic one-on-one battle to the death. Sorry to disappoint you, baby sister. And no you are not going to duel Jedi Master Rey in an epic one-on-one battle to the death either! No! No one is dueling anyone else to the death in this household!)

 

** Some Mild Weathered Mid Rim World **

After much arguments, some coin-flipping that were voided due to abuse of the Force, and several visits in person, Kylo Ren and Hux finally adopted an orange furred dog together.

**

When the New Republic realized they have been completely surrounded by First Order associated worlds, the Dam of Emperor Markas Anakin Ren, consort to Lord Knight Kylo Ren, and former General of the First Order, one Brendol Hux II, smiled at the loathsome New Republic’s impending downfall, closed his eyes, and finally breathed his last.

Lord Kylo Ren disappeared completely after seven days of mourning.

 

** The Throne **

Emperor Markas Anakin Ren sat sure upon his throne. Over his brows sat a fine circlet of soft spun light decorated with twin ash diamonds. One was dark as deepest space, the other bright as ice glinting in cold winter sunlight.

And on the brows of Emperors theses diamonds would sit, overlooking the vast domains of the Empire for generations to come.


End file.
